…and the sand in the hourglass keeps flowing

Curse of the Golden Flower

Stories of royalty at times are filled with power plays, treason, adultery and corruption, Zhang Yimou explores one such version in Curse of the golden flower. A powerful yet dysfunctional royal family and the tumults it faces, from the inside and outside form the crux of the tale.

The visuals are nothing short of breathtaking including the costumes.The version i saw was a dubbed one and the language is undoubtedly flowery, but still is entertaining to listen to. Chow-yun-fat as the emperor ping is a very good portrayal of a warlord with negative shades of character. Gong Li as the empress matches wits with the protagonist ( rather the antagonist) in such a god way that there is never a dull moment.

After watching Hero and House of flying daggers, i was expecting a martial arts wonder but surprisingly there is very little action in the movie. The film is more plot driven and is good at what it does too.